Will Invincible Season 4 Fully Introduce Tech Jacket at Last?

Invincible is now in the works on coming back for Season 4, and it’s the chance for the animated series to give Tech Jacket his fully animated debut. Invincible Season 3 wrapped up its run not long ago, but has confirmed that Season 4 of the animated series is already in the works for a release some time next year. Not only has the voice cast for the production apparently wrapped, but some of the notable new characters have been cast ahead of the coming season too. But there’s one hero that might or might not make it to the next season intact.

Tech Jacket was originally created by Robert Kirkman and E. J. Su for Image Comics back in 2002, but was a rather short run with only six issues before it came to an end. But thanks to the success of Invincible around the same time, Tech Jacket was able to play a rather significant role in Invincible‘s biggest arcs but also was able to continue with another short story of its own. Now with Invincible Season 4 taking on those arcs in particular, we might be seeing Tech Jacket get his proper due after all this time.

Invincible Has Already Appeared Anyway

Invincible‘s original Invincible War arc was something fans were excited to see brought to life in the third season as the comics brought in multiple Image Comics heroes to fight against the variant Marks around the world. While ultimately many of these cameos could not happen due to the production speed of the series and other license issues holding them back behind the scenes, there were a few of Kirkman’s other created heroes who were seen fighting (and winning) against the variant Marks like Tech Jacket. Although it was only a short appearance, fans got to briefly seen this hero taking down a Mark with ease.

This was the case for Tech Jacket’s role in the original Invincible War issue of Invincible as well. Like many of the other Image Comics heroes, he was only seen in a brief panel taking down a Mark variant. But unlike some of the other heroes who were able to enjoy small crossovers with Mark here and there, Tech Jacket then returns to play a crucial role in the fight against the Viltrumites. In fact, he becomes one of the key players for the Viltrumite War saga that will likely begin in the coming season.

Why Tech Jacket Needs to Be in Invincible Season 4

One of the biggest leftover cliffhangers from Invincible Season 3 was the tease that Allen and Nolan were preparing for the next step against the Viltrumite Empire. This will be followed up in the coming Season 4 as their next major side story will see the two of them gathering all of the Viltrumite weaknesses that had been teased with the first two seasons. One of those weaknesses was actually Tech Jacket (named Zack) in the comics as his powerful suit (which comes from an alien after it saves Zack from a mutual death) is clearly enough to defeat a Viltrumite as seen during the Invincible War.

Allen, Nolan, and Tech Jacket actually then spend quite a lot of time together traveling through space to ready for an attack on the Viltrum Empire. It’s here that the young hero gets some key moments, and plays a huge role in the full on Viltrumite War that happens later. This will likely be something we see either go down in Season 4 or 5 (which will likely be Season 4 given the pacing of it all), and would thus bring in a perfect opportunity to have him actually play a key role like in the comics.

It’s unclear as to whether or not Tech Jacket can even be used outside of these small appearances in the background given the potential rights issues, but since he plays a crucial role in the future it’d be hard to imagine a version of the series play out without him. It’s not entirely impossible to write out Tech Jacket’s role in the coming battle, but given that Invincible’s TV show has been the best version of the story, it should extend an olive branch to this forgotten hero in the meantime.